STARFest

The St. Albert Public Library has announced a star-studded lineup for its fall readers’ festival, a list that includes the 2014 Giller Prize winner Sean Michaels, astronaut Chris Hadfield and two Canada Reads winners.

Blueberry Bluegrass Festival

Guilt is an excellent motivator. Take, for example, bluegrass veterans Hot Rize, who found themselves wondering what they were doing 12 years into an intermittent reunion that started way back in 2002.

Over the course of Lady Antebellum’s first four albums, the trio found a sweet spot in country music with ballads and mid-tempo tunes featuring rich vocal harmonies and in many cases, a rootsy acoustic-laced sound.

Despite a rainy start, K-Days drew almost 800,000 fairgoers this year. K-Days 2015 was a “huge success for Northlands and for the capital region,” Tim Reid, president and CEO of Northlands, said Monday.

After opening with It’s My Way, one of the standouts from her 2015 Polaris Prize-shortlisted album Power in the Blood, Buffy Sainte-Marie played two particularly apt songs for the final day of Interstellar Rodeo.

Pleasure, uncrowded ease, gregarious vibes — with a little rain to keep us humble. Built for the people, Day 2, Year 4 of Interstellar Rodeo casually proved the allure of indie-leaning roots music under the gigantic webbed octopus tent at Hawrelak Park. From the chainsaw-country growl NQ Arbuckle to the brain-twisting poetry of Father John Misty, Saturday’s roster, including locals Colleen Brown and Mike McDonald, and the ferocious Tanya Tagaq, was one of the most anticipated lineups in the concrete Rodeo’s four years.

Sinead O’Connor has cancelled her summer tour, including a headlining appearance at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival on Friday, Aug. 7. This follows her cancellation in 2012 at Interstellar Rodeo. At the time, she cited a battle with bipolar disorder.

K-Days kicks off with a pancake breakfast Thursday and parade Friday morning. The Thursday breakfast, hosted by Health Minister Sarah Hoffman, will take place at the south legislature grounds from 7 to 9 a.m. The breakfast is usually hosted by the premier, but she is meeting this week with Canada’s other premiers in Newfoundland and Labrador.